Rollover (1981)

Director:

Alan J. Pakula

Writers:

Howard Kohn (story)
David Shaber (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 December 1981 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

The most erotic thing in their world was money.

Plot:

An Arab oil organization devises a plan to wreck the world economy in order to cause anarchy and chaos. |

Plot Keywords:

Stock Market | Independent Film

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Jane Fonda	...	Lee Winters
Kris Kristofferson	...	Hubbell Smith
Hume Cronyn	...	Maxwell Emery
Josef Sommer	...	Roy Lefcourt
Bob Gunton	...	Sal Naftari
Macon McCalman	...	Jerry Fewster
Ron Frazier	...	Gil Hovey
Jodi Long	...	Betsy Okamoto
Crocker Nevin	...	Warner Ackerman
Marvin Chatinover	...	Henry Lipscomb
Ira Wheeler	...	Mr. Whitelaw (as Ira B. Wheeler)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Steve Ballard	...	Trader (as Steve Bullard)
Ahmed Boulane	...	Student
Howard Erskine	...	Dodds
Carolyn Larson	...	Hub's Secretary
Lora Mitchell	...	Trader-Stock Market / Gold
Martha Plimpton	...	Fewster's Older Daughter

Runtime:

116 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:L (original rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video) | UK:AA (original rating) | Australia:M | Argentina:18 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | USA:R | Canada:A

Filming Locations:

American Museum of Natural History - Central Park West and 79th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

IPC Films

Movie Connections:

Featured in Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (2006) (V)

Hey, Look at the Content

This was a 1981 movie Jane Fonda "got made" after her exploration of the dangers of nuclear power in the "China Syndrome" back in 1979. She was driving to tell the story of real money - gold and how OTHER parts of the world value gold as real money while the Americans don't understand it. (Note: And it's not about Jane. I don't even like Jane Fonda...her politics aren't supposed to be in the acting on the screen. At some point a movie - or any art - is not about the artist's personality, it's about what's on the page or the score or on the screen.)

The plot line is about "outsiders" not rolling over their CDs in American banks and buying gold...and what the loss of those foreign investments means to the financial establishment in New York. I'll admit the acting and the romance are not top notch. So what? This movie was a "financial thriller" and there just ain't many of these movies made. Movies need bank financing, and banks usually won't finance anything that makes them look bad or stupid. (They show "I'ts a Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart on TV only once a year now because it shows "run on the bank" at the Bailey Savings and Loan - not something the financial establishment wants Americans to even think about.) I'm a Certified Financial Planner and I recommend this movie in my classes along with Oliver Stone's "Wall Street" and "Boiler Room" as movies that shed light on the financial world in which we live today. In 2005, it's even more important for people to understand the relationships between gold and paper money as the cycle from the 1970's reasserts itself.

And get over the Arab slights in the movie. They weren't the point back in 1981 and they aren't the point now. A lack of political correctness is not a reason to avoid this movie.